Friday, September 28, 2007

I shot this wedding back in July, i'm kinda posting these backwards. Sorry.
I got a call a few weeks before from the bride's aunt. Apparently, the friend of a bride i had worked with earlier went to church with the aunt and referred me.Although we had originally intended to leave on vacation the day of the wedding, since i would only be shooting the wedding it seemed like a good way to make some gas money for our vacation.Obviously, i enjoy shooting weddings too, the gas money and money alone are never much of a reason to shoot a wedding.Don't get me wrong though, i'm not doing them for free. There's a little too much stress and work for that.This was also the first wedding i rode my motorcycle to. Instead of Alan J Photo, i should have named it MotoPhoto, or PhotoMoto. No?Anyway, Amber and Lona were very easygoing and fun to work with.This was also my first wedding at a temple other than Salt Lake.Fortunately, my youngest sister, Alysia, got married at the Mount Timpanogus Temple only a few months earlier. So i borrowed her wedding album for some ideas. Plus i followed her photographers around the day of her wedding.If you haven't noticed yet, i love eyes. Or perhaps better said, i love to photograph eyes.Not only are eyes beautiful structures, but they speak volumes. So much passion and emotion can be conveyed by a person's eyes.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

So i had an appt. with the Dentist yesterday, but lucky for me it wasn't until 3. What's that mean? That's right, time for a ride. Only one thing, i haven't been riding since July. And even then, those were lift-served rides, so they hardly count. What with work, and projects around the house and well my general laziness i just haven't found or made the time very well the latter part of this summer to get out and ride. So yesterday morning after we dropped the kids off at school i had Jen take me up Big Cottonwood Canyon to the trailhead for the Wasatch Crest Trail. And this is the scene that greeted me. Did i mention that the recent rainstorms in the valleys brought snow to the mountains? I foolishly assumed it might be gone from the mountains. Occasionally, it was, but in it's place i found mud! Yay!
So why did i choose to ride when there was a good chance there'd be snow and mud? Well, mainly i forgot, but i also really wanted to get some good fall colors before they were all gone. So let's count 'em up: i'm fat and out of shape, there was snow and mud, and i decided to take my camera with me. And in spite of all this, i hoped to finish in time to still make the dentist. Think i made it?
The ride kicked my butt in a way i didn't really think it could. Sure, i was outta shape, but that outta shape? I guess so. Don't get me wrong, i wasn't collapsed on the side of the trail or anything, but i definitely took more breaks than normal (to take pictures, of course) and went much slower than normal (HELLO granny gear).
Unfortunately, it seems that up high most of colors were already gone. But that doesn't matter, the trail and surrounding mountains are always beautiful. Look at that sweet singletrek!
The picture above is looking south towards Little Cottonwood Canyon. Below is the section commonly referred to as "the Fin," a short rocky section that's all but unrideable, at least by me. The picture is looking north east in the general direction of Park City.
Below is Desolation Lake, looking West towards the Salt Lake Valley. The benefit of the ride is that it's not too often you get to see too much of this with snow. It's fairly difficult to get here in the winter.
I love Aspens. I love the sound they make when the wind blows, the color their leaves turn in the fall, and most importantly: riding sweet singletrek between them! Granted, i wasn't getting much in the way of a variety of colors, but hey, yellow is pretty.
This is headed back into Mill Creek Canyon. Very pretty, but unfortunately the last dry section of the upper trails. The rest of the way to the Dog Lake Trail was either covered in snow, or mud. Sweet mud... in my eyes, ears, nose, but that's okay, by this time i was already covered.
Fortunately, the rest of the canyon was fairly dry, or at least it wasn't covered in snow. There were some puddles and if i hadn't been in a hurry (because i was going so slow) and already pooped, i would have probably enjoyed it.
These pictures don't do justice to how covered in mud i was. Also note my poor camera bag. Oh, and my poor bike. It took almost an hour to clean the dang thing. And by clean i mean not dirty, not actually clean. Oh, and of course, poor dentist. Since i took so long, i didn't have a chance to clean up before heading over to the dentist. Jen wouldn't even let me sit on the seat in the car, i had to sit on my jacket. Speaking of Jen, i thought we'd have to stop on the way to dentist so i could negate the healthy value of my ride with some greasy food from Wendy's, but guess who made me two sandwiches? What a wonderful wife i have!
There ya have it, my little adventure. Lessons learned? I'm out of shape (i kind of already knew that though) and should ride more. Hopefully, i can take advantage of whatever nice weather we still get this summer/fall. Oh, and i have a great wife, but i already knew that too.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Well, i can't believe that it's basically been a month since the wedding! I probably should have had these ready and posted a while ago. And i probably shouldn't have posted so many, but i have a really hard time choosing my "favorites". Once i weed out the ones i definitely don't like... well, then i like all the rest.
If you can't tell, this is Kira and Zac again; their first picture as a married couple!
They were married in the Portland, Oregon temple. I had an opportunity the day before to scout the grounds out for 30 minutes or so. It's a beautiful structure, and i wish i had had more time to shoot just the temple, especially at night when it's all lit up.
I love shooting at different locations. The architecture and grounds of these LDS temples are so amazing. Granted, it's also a little more difficult to find and get those "classic" shots that seem so easy at the Salt Lake Temple.
i was really pleased with a lot of these candid, or informal family shots. These are all my cousins, their spouses and families and Zac's family. Cute family, eh?
Annoying, or interesting? What do you think?
I've been having problems with my flash recycle times as of late, so i made sure i brought enough batteries that i could use a brand new set for each shoot. Not even half way into the wedding day pictures and my flash was taking over a minute to recycle. That might not sound too bad, but imagine the bride and groom and the ornery Johnson family waiting a minute between each picture. Go figure it was my last set of batteries too. I was a rather frustrated, because i really needed that fill flash on a lot of pictures. At the reception i finally had to take my external flash off and just use the on-camera flash. How's that for professional? Doh! Oh well, learned my lesson.
I really could have used a wider angle lens, but at the same time, they would have really been tiny then. And yes, the sky does seem a little purple. Little too much saturation, don't worry though, i fixed it for the bride and groom.
I was talking to someone the other day who couldn't stand these black and white pictures with portions in color, but i can't remember who it was. But they really didn't like them. I think it's kind of fun to have a few like this when you can.
This was one of the pictures that Zac really wanted. They had the picture with them, and Zac came out and made sure that Kira got the pose just like the magazine. It was kind of funny, but hey, it's a cute pose.
Go figure i brought my polarizer filter and even took the time to get it out and attached so i could these reflection shots without the bottom of the reflecting pond being visible, but i was in such a hurry because the bride and groom were in a hurry to get to the luncheon that i forgot to rotate the filter to adjust the reflections properly. Doh! Go figure, everyone got stuck in crazy traffic after the wedding anyway. By the time i got to the reception all the food had just been thrown away.
Well, there you have it. I guess it would make sense to post the pictures in smaller increments, eh? I'm off to work on the reception pictures now. After that, i can start posting some of the pictures i've already done. Or maybe i should work on my website? Who knows?

"One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. "Oh, no," I said. "Disneyland burned down." He cried and cried, but I think that deep down, he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late."